People with HIV are still battling the perception they “deserve” to have the virus, a leading campaign group has said.

Speaking in the wake of a Northern Ireland man being subjected to online abuse because he is HIV positive, Gavin Boyd from the Rainbow Project said understanding of the condition has improved since the 1980s, but “there is still a lot of stigma associated with it”.

Gavin, a Policy and Advocacy Manager at Rainbow, slammed the abuse aimed at Matthew.

He added: “Thankfully this sort of abuse is relatively rare, but there’s still a stigma out there that makes it hard for people to come out as being HIV positive. Matthew has been very open about his condition for a long time and has been making a real impact, especially on young people.

“But there’s still a perception that comes from the 1980s that HIV is a death sentence, but if you look at Matthew he’s a young healthy guy who’s working away. Someone with a HIV diagnosis has pretty the same life expectancy now as anyone else as long as you look after yourself. The medication also makes it very difficult to pass on HIV to someone else which destroys this notion of infectious monsters which there is around people with HIV.

Gavin Boyd from the Rainbow Project

“The danger is with people who are positive, but don’t get tested and carry on regardless assuming they’re negative. People need to get tested, but this is where the stigma comes in again. People maybe do something silly one night, then spend weeks googling symptoms and all the rest of it rather than coming in getting tested and dealing properly with it.”

Matthew, 26, went public as being HIV positive in 2010 after being diagnosed in 2009 and has used his experience to help others cope with getting the same news.

Gavin added that the Rainbow Project is doing its bit to reduce the stigma and encourage people to get tested.

He added: “But we are still fighting against this notion that if you’re HIV positive, you’ve obviously done something to deserve it, basically you’re some kind of filthy slut. But HIV is a virus that doesn’t care about your morals and we all have to be careful.”